Call off the jam!

These days I seem to be so busy living my life that I don't have time to write about it! Okay, okay, I don't take the time to write about it. One of my dad's favorite things to tell me as a kid was that I had "all the time that there is. It's how you choose to spend it." So lately I've chosen to spend my "free" time doing things like eating and sleeping rather than blogging. So shoot me.
My kids are hurtling toward the end of first grade at the speed of light. It seems like just yesterday I was dropping them off for kindergarten with a giant lump in my throat. Now they are two years into their school experience, reading up a storm and doing well in math. I really wrestled with the decision to enroll them in public school instead of home schooling, but I think that right now, for our family, the decision we made was the right one. My girls have been blessed with two young, energetic teachers who have truly gone above and beyond to make sure their educational experience was a positive one this year. I was very blessed throughout my education with wonderful teachers, and it made all the difference in how I felt about school and about myself.
I am proud to say that I'm still running, both on my treadmill and occasionally outside. I am dealing with the difficulties that result from so much activity as they arise, fun things like tight hamstrings and shin splints. I bought some calf compression sleeves to run in, which look a lot like knee socks from a distance. After adding my "Will Run for Ice Cream" headband to my ensemble yesterday, I looked and felt like I was going to play roller derby. Just for confirmation of this fact, as I was walking out the door my husband was yelling, "Call off the jam! Call off the jam!"
As if looking silly wasn't enough, when I got to the neighborhood that everyone in our area goes running in, I was forced to huff and puff my way along behind Mr. Shirtless Wonder and his wife, Mrs. Stick Figure. Pay no attention to the fat girl "wogging" behind you, people.
Even worse than being forced to look at skinny people during my workout, I was almost dog bitten twice and run over once. One dog was a large mutt, and the other was a Jack Russell "Terrorist." Fortunately, both critters backed off when I yelled at them. Legally, if one of them had bitten me, I could have demanded that it be put down and its head submitted to the State Lab for rabies screening. I'm just throwing that out there, dog population! You do NOT want to bite the vet jogging in front of your house!
I am making a sincere effort to keep a cleaner house, and my young barrel horse has been on a roll, even winning me a saddle last weekend! So between being a mom, housekeeper, barrel racer, cook, runner, and writer, my time is pretty much spoken for all day, every day. But at least I'm really living my life instead of just writing about it. That's got to be worth something, right?